Believe it or not, we don’t cover every piece of tech news here at SnapMunk. In an effort to keep you apprised of all things relevant in the world of technology and startups, here are some noteworthy tech news items that didn’t get a full column this week but certainly deserve a glance.
Facebook, YouTube, Microsoft, and Twitter Vow To Crack Down On Hate Speech
In an effort to support a European Commission code of conduct, a number of large tech companies are promising to crack down on “illegal hate speech”. The European Commission is aiming to have all incendiary hate speech removed from the Internet within 24 hours of being posted – Facebook, YouTube, Microsoft, and Twitter have agreed to support the movement. Now, I know that this is supposed to be a good thing, but this actually sounds terrifying to me. Who determines what speech is “illegal”? This may not be censorship per se, but this is getting really, really close.
Hacker Steals 360 Million MySpace Passwords
Hey, remember MySpace? It was that social network that allowed you to…I honestly don’t remember. Music stuff? Blogs? Anyway, it still exists, and it just got hacked. If you created an account prior to June of 2013, there’s a good chance your account probably got hacked. I suppose this poses a risk for you if you’ve used the same password in all your accounts. It might be time to stop using “remember1234” as your bank password.
North Korea’s Facebook Clone Gets Hacked
Speaking of hacks, it turns out that North Korea has a Facebook clone called “StarCon” and it got hacked. The site, which was most likely set up by the state-run internet service, was hacked by a Scottish teen using the username “admin” and the password “password”. It’s reported that the site is very similar to Facebook, except that every profile pic must be Kim Jong Un.
Photo via Techworm.net
World’s Most Secure Smartphone Goes On Sale For $14,000
Sirin Labs just released the “Solarin” smartphone, which they claim is the world’s most secure smartphone. The device incorporates military grade security and technology used by intelligence agencies to create a smartphone so secure that even Hillary Clinton could use it. The phone includes a switch that activates a “security shield” and a remote application that allows you to lock or wipe the phone remotely. Of course, this bad boy of a phone is a smidge pricey.
Elon Musk Thinks We’re Probably Living In A Computer Simulation
Elon Musk pulled a page from The Matrix when he recently suggested that there is only a “one in billions” chance that we’re NOT living in a computer simulation. Musk, who has invested millions into AI, believes that the simulation is created by powerful AI and supercomputers. He hopes this is true because if it’s not, then the world will eventually come to an end. Look, just read the article because Musk actually goes much deeper than that, but I couldn’t quite follow his argument and I don’t want to embarrass myself here. #PhilosophyFail
Snapchat Surpasses Twitter In Daily Users
I don’t use Snapchat, but apparently I’m in the minority, because the social media platform just surpassed Twitter in daily users. According to reports, Snapchat has 150 million daily users compared to Twitter’s 140 million daily users. This isn’t surprising, given that Twitter’s growth has been relatively flat over the past few years while Snapchat’s has been explosive, growing at 50% year-over-year.
Photo via Adweek
Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments!
Stephen Altrogge is a freelance writer based in Tallahassee, Florida. He writes about tech, marketing, faith, and lots of other things. He’s married to Jen and has three young girls. Every day he consumes more coffee than the entire population of Colombia. He knows more about Star Wars than any respectable man should, and he runs more than any sane man would. He once attempted to eat a 2 pound hamburger in under an hour. He failed.
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While it might seem like censorship to limit hate speech, don’t you think they have a right to do so on their own online properties?
Musk is about as far away from Earth as you can get on a regular basis. I am not saying that a computer simulation is not possible, but why is he the only one saying that?
Online hate speech is going to go on forever. Google tried to put a stop to it by requiring people to have a “real” Google+ profile to comment, but how did that turn out?
Musk isn’t going to turn into some conspiracy theorist cult leader, is he?
LOL, I doubt it. Whatever he ends up being, we won’t know until the last minute.
Now we all have to go into MySpace and change our passwords? Damn!
Can Snapchat hold onto the users like Twitter has? I know Twitter has flattened out, but the app has not been losing users in a way that would signify anything negative, right?
Not only is that smartphone one of the most secure. There is now a LINE of hackers trying to be the first inside of it!